Teacher-humour types and college students’ academic performance in online teaching: The mediating role of academic interest

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between teacher-humour types and academic performance in online learning and the role of student academic interest in that relationship. Our study participants were 2 401 college students from 22 universities across China (female =68.1 %, mean age = 19.73 years, SD =1.08 years). The students completed a measure of teacher- humour types (content, non-content-related, self-disparaging, aggressive) and an academic interest measure. We accessed the student’s academic records as academic performance measure. Path analysis indicated that all types of teacher-humour predicted higher student academic achievement with online teaching. Furthermore, academic interest mediated all teacher- humour types and academic performance, enhancing the teacher-humour effect. These findings suggest that teacher- humour styles would improve the quality of online teaching, enhancing achievement through higher learning engagement.